Ireland’s Government is to invest €5m over the next five years in a new Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Technology Centre (PMTC) that will be headquartered at the University of Limerick.
Damien English, TD, Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, launched the centre today.
PMTC is the latest of 15 state-supported technology centres established jointly by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. The centre brings together 24 industry partners and nine Higher Education Institutes that will deliver the research.
PMTC will deliver advanced technology solutions to contemporary manufacturing issues challenging the Irish pharmaceutical sector.
The aim of PMTC is to make Ireland the global hub of pharmaceutical process innovation and manufacturing and ultimately support an industry that directly employs more than 25,000 people.
Manufacturing cost competitiveness and patent expiry are among the two most critical issues threatening the future of this industry, which contributes more than €40bn in Irish exports per annum.
“The pharmaceutical industry is a very important provider of employment and growth in Ireland’s economy,” English said.
“This joint initiative of Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland to make the pharma industry more competitive and efficient is most welcome. The fact that the research agenda is defined and informed by the companies involving both Irish SMEs and multinationals gives strength to the industry’s effort to tackle challenges such as the patents cliff and manufacturing competitiveness.”
The industry consortium comprises a mix of indigenous multinational pharmaceutical companies and SMEs, including Alkermes, Allergan Pharmaceutical, Applied Process Consulting, Astellas, Bristol-Myers Squibb Swords, Crest Solutions, Eli Lilly, Gilead, GSK, Helsinn Birex, Innopharma Labs, Janssen, Label Art, Leo Pharma, Merck Sharp Dohme, Pfizer, Process Analytics, Roche, Servier, Sigmoid Pharma, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, Techno-Path, Teva Pharmaceuticals and TopChem Pharma.
